Doug Heuck

The Confluence – where the news comes together -- is 90.5 WESA’s weekly news program.

Each week reporters, editors and bloggers join veteran journalist and host, Kevin Gavin. They’ll go behind the headlines taking an in-depth look at the stories important to the Pittsburgh region. This week we look at the New Frontier's Conference at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh, job growth and state Senate hearings on charter schools.

The Pittsburgh region is at the top of a list of similarly-sized metro regions when it comes to home ownership. That’s according to a report from Pittsburgh Today, a nonprofit research organization housed at the University of Pittsburgh.

“Among our 15 benchmark regions, the homeownership rate in Pittsburgh is the highest of all the regions,” said Doug Heuck, director of Pittsburgh Today, “and homeownership is a general sign of stability, investedness in the place that you live.”

Compared to geographically similar cities around the country, Pittsburgh surfaces as a highly innovative city with some complex demographic problems.

Pittsburgh Today Director Doug Heuck and his team studied the makeup of benchmark regions like Milwaukee, Detroit and Richmond and found that Pittsburgh has numerable encouraging qualities, but lacks many important elements some residents find essential to city life.

Pittsburgh has been on a number of lists praising its livability. However, a new regional study titled Pittsburgh Today & Tomorrow, finds city residents have a number of concerns when it comes to the quality of life. We'll discuss those concerns with Pittsburgh Quarterly publisher Doug Heuck and reporter Jeffery Fraser.